I spent just over three weeks in England, and very few of my days were sunny and warm. When it wasn’t raining, it was hailing, and when I left the country at the end of May, the weathermen were still predicting snow for the following week. Fortunately, I had one day of wonderful weather during my short visit to London with my friend Molly, and we spent an afternoon soaking up more sun than England saw during the rest of my trip combined.

When Molly and I got off the bus in London, we immediately decided that the weather was too beautiful not to take advantage of it. We took the long way to our hostel, starting our walk through plazas of posh houses that were brightened by colorful flower bushes. It was a neighborhood that I had seen before during previous trips to London last year, but which looked completely different when spring was in bloom. And from the very first pink flowers that I photographed on this particular visit, I fell in love with London harder than I had ever believed was possible.

Pretty pink flowers adorning the front courtyard of a mansion

Soon our walk took us to Hyde Park, which was already a London favorite of Molly and me. I had always found Hyde Park lovely in autumn and winter but I had never visited during spring, and was absolutely enchanted at how bright the park had become. We were greeted by stunning green scenery and continued to be mesmerized by colorful trees and flowers.

After we dropped off our bags at the hostel, Molly and I headed back out into the sunshine and walked to Buckingham Palace, where we admired more spectacular gardens.

Buckingham Palace tulips

The nearby park was also full of interesting gardens, and we continued to soak up vitamin D while we meticulously photographed many of the colorful plants.

I thought this orange plant looked like octopus tentacles.More interesting flowersI couldn’t believe how colorful these rainbow flowerbeds were!I was amazed at how well all of the colors went together.London impressed me with so many kinds of flowers I had never seen before.

We were lucky to have such a warm, sunny day, because it was the last one anybody in England would experience for awhile (and I wouldn’t have weather that nice until I got back to Ohio a few weeks later). I’m so glad I finally had a chance to see London in the spring, because the sunshine and flowers made all the difference in transforming my opinion of the city; I had liked London a lot before, but this springtime visit was all it took for me to fall completely in love with it.